Old Sleuth

“ You fear that Alphonse Donetti will be one of the burglars. You do not desire him to be captured. See what a mind-reader I am."
"Why do you assume that Alphonse will be one of the robbers?"
"Merely because you do, that's all."
"How do you know that I do?"
"You would not make the extraordinary request unless that was your fear."
"You are a strange man."
The detective laughed and answered:
"And you are a very strangely acting lady. It is indeed a strange thing for a lady who expects robbers to visit her house to ask that they be permitted to escape. ”

“ This casket had been left at the house pending the arrival of the representative from Rome, subject to positive identification.
When the casket was produced and shown to the Italian he uttered a cry of delight and amazement. Indeed he fairly danced around so great was his joy.
"Are we right?" asked Oscar.
"Right, my dear sir, you are the most wonderful man on earth. I always believed Americans were a great people, and you are the greatest American I ever met."
Our hero laughed and said:
"It was a simple matter—a very simple matter." ”

“ The men had gotten their surprise, and our hero, as a matter of prudence, being alone in the grove, changed his disguise, dropped the chappie role altogether, and walked off in an opposite direction. He had visited the neighborhood for a special purpose, and his run-in with the three rowdies had only been a side diversion.
Oscar walked over to a row of dilapidated-looking houses, where he had presented a view of the miserable condition in which human beings can live and thrive. ”

“ It was beyond all question the face of Alphonse Donetti. It had probably been torn off his guard chain during his struggle with the girl. He was a confederate of Argetti. He was a would-be assassin. Alas! he had no cheerful news for poor Alice Frewen, but he was verging toward a startling discovery, leading up to a clue to the solution of the Roman robbery and murder. ”

“ Frewen really believes you are a criminal."
"She has no basis for her belief. I never did a dishonorable deed in my life. My only crime is being a poor young man."
"Have you any suspicion as to your real parentage?"
"Aha! you have heard about me from Mrs. Frewen."
"I have."
"I have no proofs as concerns the identity of my father. I have many well-grounded reasons for believing I can identify him. I probably will never obtain the proofs, never establish my claim to a noble name."
Oscar held a prolonged conversation with Alphonse Donetti. ”

“ Thief number two had hauled off to deal Oscar a tremendous blow. He was a large man and appeared to possess great strength, but to the surprise of everybody, chappie, as the crowd had dubbed our hero, let go the man he had been holding just in time to dodge a blow aimed at his head, and he countered with a stinger which sent his assailant staggering to the street. He then as quick as a wink, to the amazement of the crowd, dealt the man he had first seized a sockdologer and down he went, and at the same instant the old lady arrived on the scene. ”

“ How did you establish my identity?"
The detective smiled and said:
"It was a very simple matter, madam."
"I do not understand it."
"I will explain."
"Please do."
"We detectives are compelled to be very careful in all our movements. We have enemies who are constantly seeking to trap us."
"What has all that to do with the fact that you knew my address?"
"I read your advertisement."
"Yes."
"I did not know whether it was genuine or a decoy sent out by the thieves who robbed you." ”

“ A moment only he rested, and then the dude, the delicate-looking dude, after having slipped on a few outside garments, raised the bound and gagged man in his arms, handled him as though he had been an unresisting lad of ten or twelve years, and carried him down two pair of stairs to the street door. He stepped forth and walked off with his burden. He met no one until he had traversed several squares, when a policeman accosted him:
"Hold on! what have you there—a dead body?"
"No, a man pretty thoroughly alive, and I want your aid—he is getting heavy." ”

“ If he is in New York I will find him. If he is being driven toward the career of a criminal I will save him. If you arrest him I cannot save him, and yet he deserves to be saved, for he is the victim of a great wrong."
Again the detective meditated. He was revolving strange theories in his mind, and mentally he concluded: "This is a very unfortunate girl, but she is only one of a type of woman who can be thus fascinated." After an interval he said:
"I do not think Alphonse will be one of the robbers." ”

“ The girl started to say Alphonse but checked herself and said, "the young man."
Oscar was a regular mind-reader, and he remarked in a tone indicating a forgetfulness that the question had once been answered:
"So you never had the pleasure of seeing this young man, Miss Alice?"
The girl blushed and appeared restless and uneasy as she answered:
"No."
The detective turned to Mrs. Frewen and said:
"It may be necessary to hunt up this young man in order to run down the criminals who, we are to assume, are about to make an attempt to rob you."
"I fear the young man is a criminal." ”

“ I am a gentleman, I am, and an athlete. You are only a common man; you can't fight me."
The men all laughed at the idea of the dude's being an athlete.
"I know you are an athlete, but you must fight me all the same." ”

“ We say false logic, for dead men, though their lips are silent, as a rule—ay, almost always—leave silent testimonies behind that speak for them, and crime is always revealed. The silence of the murdered is a dangerous release, for murder "will out," though, as stated, the lips of the victims are sealed in death.
Dudie Dunne played well his part. He did not readily consent to go upstairs. He was playing a great game, playing on novel plans, taking great chances, and for the rascals who were alluring him he had a great surprise in reserve. ”

“ They are not entitled to sympathy, despite the fact that some mawkish Sunday-school books sometimes present the good-hearted burglar. If there is any crime that deserves death anywhere near the liability of murder it is the crime of burglary, for a man who will enter a house to steal is the meanest criminal on the face of the earth, and it is well when they are shot down right in their tracks and in the act of their crime.
The three burglars, as stated, were led away, and our hero, who had effected the capture so neatly, ascended the stairs and at the parlor door met Alice Frewen. ”

“ Several days passed and our hero devoted himself to one object. He tried to trail down Alphonse Donetti. In the meantime he held an interview with Alice Frewen. He had discovered the extraordinary interest of that fair, innocent, but resolute girl in the young Frenchman, and he sought to prepare her for the terrible revelations that were to come. Oscar was thoroughly convinced that young Donetti was a villain of the worst type and the confederate of villains. He was convinced that the young man had been concerned in the Roman robbery. ”

“ He was under a new disguise and he played a great game for information. His object was to identify Alphonse Donetti with the burglars. He did not succeed, but by skillful maneuvering he got a hint that caused him to pay a visit to an outlying district on Long Island, where there is located quite a colony of Italians. It was a warm and pleasant afternoon; our hero was gotten up as Dudie Dunne, and he attracted considerable attention as a genuine chappie. Indeed, on the car when riding to his destination he was made the subject of considerable merriment by a number of men in the car. ”

“ A group of little toughs were gathered at a street corner in a low locality in the city of New York when a dude of the first water with the regular Anglo step and exquisite airs walked leisurely down the street peering through his single eyeglass at the surrounding tenements. He was a splendid specimen in appearance of the dudie sweet, and the moment the eyes of the gamins fell upon him they [Pg 4] saw a chance for fun. It was at first intended as a raid for fun, but in the end it became plunder. ”

“ Well, I tell you that when one becomes a fugitive he must judge people by their acts, not by their looks; I believe the man is either a detective, or a detective's decoy. His innocent looks aid his trick, but I will know after he has visited me in the cabin. ”

“ Oscar had visited the house many times with Caroline Metti, and after many searches had unearthed a buried casket in the cellar, and in the casket he had found a rich collection of jewels. Indeed, the robbery had been of even greater magnitude than had been reported, and among the articles stolen were jewels that had belonged to the family of the nobleman during the pontificate of Gregory XI. These were articles that had come down in the family for over five centuries and were of great intrinsic as well as historical value. ”

“ All they suspect is that the thief fled from Rome and is in New York."
Oscar Dunne smiled as he remarked:
"A man must start on nothing in this case."
"That is about the size of it."
"They don't know whether the man is an Italian or not?"
"No, but they do know that he is a desperate fellow. He killed one of the servants in the house at the time he committed the robbery. They believe he is an Italian."
"Have you a photograph of any members of the family that was robbed?" ”

“ The girl slowly walked away and our hero muttered:
"Well, this is a complication. That girl loves a thief, possibly an assassin."
A little later and Oscar Dunne entered the house. All was as it had been agreed it should be, and yet the detective commenced a search. There was a hall pantry off the rear parlor. The detective tried the door; it was locked, but by a little trick of his own he opened it and flashed the light of his tiny mask lantern inside, and there sure enough stood Alice Frewen. ”

“ All these little incidents proved that he had been observed, that he had aroused a [Pg 64] suspicion as to his design, and that the observation and suspicion could only be aroused in one who feared something—possibly feared being seen and tracked.
After the girl had seen our hero pass from view, she entered the house at the window of which Oscar had seen the dark face. In the room was a desperate-looking man—a man one would fear to meet at night alone, for every lineament betrayed the man to be a desperate scoundrel. ”

“ If it were known that I had warned you it would cost me my life."
"You are very frank."
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because I fear you will be made the victim of another man."
"The victim of another man?"
"Yes."
"Explain."
"I told you Argetti had a foe."
"Yes."
"He knows that foe is seeking him."
"Yes."
"He has heard of your inquiring for him."
"Yes."
"He associates you with his enemy; if it were his enemy I would utter no words of warning, but believing you are my friend I warn you." ”

“ I tell you I don't want to get it in the eye from one of those mauleys of yours, and get knocked into the middle of next week."
"Hee, hee, hee! how observant you are, and now you've really discovered that I am an athlete! Well, I try not to betray the fact—yes, I am very careful to not let people know, and I try to keep my temper. I don't like to get aroused."
The men went into the barroom and the dude called for a bottle of wine, and the miserable apology for wine was put on the counter. ”

“ There was the challenger and two friends and our hero, and he amused his friends by a display of his agility, his muscle and sinew. When they reached the grove the fellow who was to fight threw off his coat and Oscar said:
"See here! It's a good deal of trouble for me to thrash you; it's like work—I don't like work. ”

“ Oscar was standing on the corner of a street waiting for a car to pass when he saw a man suddenly leap off the car, and immediately afterward an old lady ran out to the platform screaming, "Stop thief! stop thief!" ”

“ He looked around for the Italian girl. He did not see her, and he muttered:
"Hang it! I am anchored here; that girl will steal in and release the man." Even as our hero spoke he heard a shrill scream, and it was the voice of a female and not very far distant. He started at a run in the direction from which the scream had come and quickly arrived at a point where he beheld a man struggling with a woman. Oscar dashed forward, the man saw him, released the girl, and our hero saw her fall to the ground. He believed a murder had been committed and he ran past the girl to secure the murderer. ”

“ It was their turn, thought Dudie Dunne, and as he gave his first assailant the second clip he swung round and quick as a flash light of a photographer he let the two men successively have it square on the forehead and over they went, heels up. When they recovered their feet they used them—used them to [Pg 60] good advantage—in getting away, while chappie went for number one again, but the fellow begged—-actually begged—and our hero picking up his coat flung it at him and commanded:
"Get away, you dirty dog, and mind what you are at next time you attempt to insult a man who did no harm to you." ”

“ The wounded man looked closely at our hero, saw that he was a gentleman, and said:
"Yes, I need some one to close my eyes. You appear to be a kind man; if it is not too much trouble secure a carriage."
Oscar did not have to go far before he found a carriage, and when he returned he found the young man still alive and apparently, under all the circumstances, singularly strong. ”